Snow plow firms happy to see December go

Ozaukee County’s snow-less December has landscaping companies hoping for a white January.

“In October and November, we went out to plow or salt four times. That is about average,” Michael Decker, owner of Decker’s Services in Port Washington, said.

“But we didn’t plow at all in December — that isn’t normal,” he said.

The owner of Nates Landscaping, Nate Kohn, said his company has plowed and salted even fewer times.

“We only had a couple of snow events so far,” he said. “That is very unusual.”

Kohn said about 80% of his company’s sales come from snow removal, so getting consistent snowfall is important.

However, he said, “We’ve learned over the years not to worry about these things.

“We’ve had years where it starts strong and then dies down and years where it starts poor and then picks up.”

The break in plowing and salting has given his staff time to work on in-shop projects.

“We’ve been able to catch up on shop work, installing equipment and cleaning things up” he said.

He said he takes the good with the bad, and one positive to December’s poor showing was being able to give seasonal employees time off for the Christmas holidays.

“We’ve had years where they’ve had to work on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or New Year’s,” he said.

Decker said his company isn’t dependent on snow removal.

“We’ve always done stuff other than plowing and salting,” he said. “We’ve never put all our eggs in one basket.”

Those other services include excavation, lot clearing and cutting and delivering firewood.

“Firewood is a thing that is quick to deliver and can be produced when we have the time,” he said. “We’ve been doing firewood for longer than anyone else in the county.”

Along with completing other work, Decker said he’s able to hedge his bet by having a lot of guaranteed contracts, where customers don’t pay for each plowing event.

“Half our customers are guaranteed with year-round lawn care, clearing and plowing,” he said. “So we get paid whether it snows or not.”

Decker’s biggest issue, he said, is staffing.

To alleviate that, he’s focused on using tractors for snow plowing, which he says are far more efficient than trucks.

“Tractors are more expensive but much better. One tractor can do the work of four trucks,” he said. “We can attach huge 16 foot plows on our tractors, and the tractors can go 30 mph.

“We can fly around (Ozaukee, Washington and Sheboygan counties.)”

In contrast, Kohn said his staffing situation has greatly improved in the last few years.

“We pretty much have a full staff,” he said, which includes 200 seasonal snow  removal employees.

He said he is not sure exactly why there has been an influx of applicants but he suspects it could be because of the pay.

“We try to be at the top or above the average pay scale,” he said. “We’ve got really good people because of that. We get to choose only the best.”

He said he only has to fill a few positions each season, because his seasonal employees keep coming back.

Overall, Kohn said, the light start to the plowing season doesn’t have him anxious.

“If it was mid-February and we haven’t started to get snowfall, then I’d be concerned,” he said.

No matter what, he said, “The Lord’s taking care of us.”